The taste of nirvana

The Ideal Café offers some great dosas, ice-cream and coffee

August 05, 2011 07:06 pm | Updated 07:06 pm IST - Mangalore

Ideal Cafe in Mangalore. Photo: Special Arrangement

Ideal Cafe in Mangalore. Photo: Special Arrangement

A cost effective and yet a quality place to eat out in Mangalore is now not that difficult to find with the Ideal Café opening recently, in the Ideal Towers right across the Sharavu Temple. When the taste buds are happy, the label of vegetarian and non- vegetarian hardly seems to matter. This is one restaurant where even a non-vegetarian is happy to be.

Long journey

The Ideals group began its journey with the production of firecrackers in 1975 and slowly switched to a full-fledged ice cream business with the Ideals Parlour in 1980. It has now branched into chats with Chat Spot at City Centre and recently into the restaurant business with the Ideal Café.

As you enter the Café, the typical Ideal feel is quite evident — the wooden seating arrangements, the painted glass, the golden wall paper, but most importantly the impeccable service staff. Opened this February, it's relatively new and yet has a steady flow of customers who come because of the brand name.

Rajendra Pawar, a businessman who was visiting the Café for the first time with his wife said, “The service here is good, so is the food,” as he shared the masala dosa with his wife.

The menu ranges from traditional foods like rava dosa, set dosa, neer dosa to the experimental three-in- one dosas with ordinary masala, paneer masala and capsicum masala and the rich mayo-filled fruit-and-nut sandwich. For a cold beverage, there are some finely crushed iced smoothies. Few of the dishes have exciting names such as machine gun and dosa sandwich. But it is the coffee, which is the main attraction of the Ideal Café, which gives you a taste of nirvana for just 10 bucks.

When asked about the secret behind the unique flavour, owner Mukund Kamath smiled and said it was the result of a “three-month trial”.

Manju Neeresh Wallya, who is regular customer here, says that with his office at the next road, he and his colleagues generally come here for evening tea and he loves neer dosa and paneer ghee roast. However, the system of self service is something that he is yet to adjust.

Kamath, however, rationalises by saying “It is hassle-free and saves the customers from tipping,” and chuckles. Nevertheless, on a serious note, he believes, the self service system will soon be the order in the hotel industry.

Ideals, which greatly relies on quality, has now even started Ideals Bakery near Felix Bazaar Hampankatta, which makes the bread required for their in-house consumption.

Another fresh entry into their business is the Premium brand of ice-cream, also available at the café. Be it the rose flavoured Pink Passion or anjir-flavoured Shahi Nut or the tangy Nut Cut or the bitter Belgium Chocolate, they are all rich, creamy and are guaranteed melt-in-your-mouth types.

The Ideal Café has been low on marketing. “We mainly rely on word of mouth publicity and sometimes bill board advertising,” says Kamath.

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